Gifts of Christmas

I admit I am a crafter. I like to create, I like to make messes and I like to see the reaction people have to my creations, good or bad. I love to learn new things and in the crafting world it's easy to learn things one step at a time. I also have a dark side. {no comment from my family, please...} I am a procrastinator extraordinaire. I have the best of intentions and worst follow through ever. I started making Christmas gifts in July. Really. I finished the last one Dec 23. Ugh. My other real problem is that while I am amazing at taking an idea and making it my own, I am lousy at coming up with my own unique idea. So thanks to all of the wonderful crafters out there in blogland. Your ideas helped make a great Christmas for my family!

Christmas gifts I give have criteria to meet. I don't just give any old thing. First, it has to be fit for a variety of age groups. Nieces and Nephews range from 2 months to 12 years old. Some of the parents are bigger kids than the kids. It has to be a family strengthening gift. Toys don't last, memories do. Also, some aspect has to be handmade. It's better if I can come up with a plan and make it for each family (9 in all + grandparents), but I am happy to do different things for each family too. Lastly, it has to be affordable. Lots of people, we don't draw names and we have to afford Christmas for our own kiddos too.

This year was the year of games. I loved this idea from a blog I read. I have posted about it before and the same warning still applies. Every family got Yahtzee games with a hand made drawstring bag with their name on it.  The idea was to be able to add personalized games to them throughout the year. I have cousin memory coming up by Easter I hope. I also saw a version of Family Go Fish I liked a lot too. We shall see what actually gets done.

I borrowed an embroidery machine from a friend of mine. (It's actually for sale. Contact me and I will fill you in on the details.) I forgot to take a picture of this,although hopefully Dad and Annie will send me one to add.(Thanks Annie.) It was a bird tablecloth with matching gold napkins. Each corner of the tablecloth had a bird from a different season on it.

 It was really pretty when I was done and quite a learning experience. It fit the criteria in that it's only them living there, she loves to cook and entertain so it brings them closer together.

I also did a couple of quilts. For my FIL and his sweet wife I did this fun quilt.

I got the idea from Crazy Mom Quilts. Good for cuddling on the couch after a long day of horses and chores on the ranch. I decided that one quilt per year for was going to be my limit, but then this one fell into my lap. The same friend who had the machine I borrowed also had a rough outline of this cute quilt done.

 It didn't take long to finish it up, since it was all cut out and had all the pieces together. A lap quilt was perfect for this Grandpa.

For my grandmothers I made tater bags. They both loved them. Good for re-heating rolls, heating tortillas, baking potatoes or apples, these are fun and easy. Both of them have everything they want and love something new and different, so this was the perfect gift for them. No photo of that either. Think bright lined flannel with a bright yellow lining. Cute and functional.

No Christmas cards were sent out this year, I just didn't get to it. Maybe for Valentine's Day. Lots of cooking, lots of sewing {and with a brand new sewing machine, who could resist?} and lots of errands. We helped two friends move away in December, which was sad, but we know they are on to new adventures. I participated in a Christmas Choir, we had illness visit our house and Meg started Pre-school. I did 3 family photo shoots and 2 sweet babies but didn't manage to get our own family photos done. We also celebrated two birthdays and made lots of cookies.

 I traveled to WA for the funeral of my Grandfather

and returned to the biggest storms So Cal has seen in many many years. Here's our unofficial rain gauge for the 5 days of rain. There should be another almost 2 inches but my son emptied it out. Crazy, isn't it?

Still reading? Wow. That was long and involved. There were other gifts this year too. Gifts to me personally that made a difference in my life. Gifts of mercy, when I needed it most, gifts of patience, gifts of self reliance, endurance, music, creativity, hope, family and testimony. Without those gifts, where would I be? We hope you had a wonderful Christmas season and feel ready to take on the New Year with joy and energy. 2011, here we come...

Traditional Irish Blessing

 

Duane Francis Colwell passed away this week. He was my Grandpa, and a Great grandpa to my kiddos. He was full of optimism, even when life was hard and his greatest joy was to bring smiles to the faces of those around him. He loved to joke and always had a zinger waiting for you when you might not have expected it. His life was not easy, and he didn't expect it would be. He lived and died on his own terms and in his own time. 2 years ago when he was told his cancer was extensive and he might only have 4-6 months left, he laughed at the doctor. "What does he know, anyway", he said. "I have things to do. I want to go to the casino, who's taking me?" One thing I remember vividly from my childhood was him walking through the orchards or just sitting outside whistling. He loved Irish Folk tunes and when I ran across the video below, it reminded me of him. We enjoyed the time we had with him and the things that he taught us. Miss you Grandpa.

My wish for youI wish you not a path devoid of clouds, nor a life on a bed of roses,
Not that you might never need regret,
nor that you should never feel pain.
No, that is not my wish for you.
My wish for you is:
That you might be brave in times of trial,
when others lay crosses upon your shoulders.
When mountains must be climbed and chasms are to be crossed,
When hope can scarce shine through.
That every gift God gave you might grow with you
and let you give your gift of joy to all who care for you.
That you may always have a friend who is worth that name,
whom you can trust and who helps you in times of sadness,
Who will defy the storms of daily life at your side.
One more wish I have for you:
That in every hour of joy and pain you may feel God close to you.
This is my wish for you and for all who care for you.
This is my hope for you now and forever.

-- anonymous Irish blessing

The Universe sends me a message

    Isn't it wonderful how a way is always provided for us? How we are prepared for things to come without always seeing the preperation or understanding it's purpose? That is one of the things I am most grateful for right now. Over and over in my life I can look back and see how I was prepared to handle something, how someone came into my life at just the right time, or a job or volunteer position I held gave me just the right tools to deal with the upcoming events. I am indeed glad for many things.

Here's just a tiny example, but it served the purpose of reminding me of so much more.

    Yesterday my plan was to make pie crusts, put them in the pie plates and freeze them so they were ready to go later this week. My mom gave me courage to make my own this year, instead of buying the yucky box ones. They really are so much better. Back on track... So I gather ingredients and set them on the table and pull out my favorite apron when my darling daughter says, "I need an apron to help you." Wanting to get on with it, I tried putting an adult apron on her. No go. She wanders off and I sift some flour. She comes back with a piece of pink fabric from my stash in her closet and asks "Can you turn this into an apron? It won't take a long time..." She has big blue eye, and she knows just how to bat them for maximum effect. So, I move the ingredients back to the freezer and cut out an apron for her. Just then the Big kid comes in. He wants one too. I never sew for him, he says. (Well, he's right. He's 9 and not exactly into mama sewn items these days.) He too comes back with a piece of fabric I hadn't had a plan for yet and asks me to whip it up for him.

  I spent the better part of the next hour and a half sewing aprons. Just as I was about to finish Meg's, she comes in asks where the buttons are. What buttons? I wasn't planning on buttons. She has a button thing. So she spent some time picking out buttons from the button jar. Thankfully, I had recently learned how to use my buttonhole foot. (Who knew that was so darn useful?) I was able to add buttons to her apron. Now I had 2 kids with aprons and it was nap time.

     Finally, after dinner, about 6:00 we started with the pie crusts. I had two great helpers. While letting the dough chill so I could roll it, I decided to make a loaf of garlic french bread to use in my dressing on Thursday. While it was kneading, my stand mixer bit the dust. I went through 2 or 3 before finding this one that I could both afford and would last a while. I guess I have had it about 10 years. It's not in the budget right now to get a new one, especially since I am saving for that new sewing machine I need, uh, want. So now what? Now I have two kids with aprons who really want to help me and a lot of work I need to do the old school way. After all, my Grandmother's didn't have stand mixers and they were all amazing cooks. They knew how to put on a holiday meal without all of the hoopla we have today.

My message: Simplify. And spend more time with my kids. They will remember for a long time to come helping me make this holiday meal, and maybe learn something along the way. Perhaps they will take pride in the things they have made and actually eat something this year. Thanks be for the message from above.

We have a Mathelete

  
We have known for a long time that our kid was brilliant. All parents think that, right? We knew it at about the age of 20 months or so when he would memorize and give us correct directions to and from a certain place. Like the commissary to home in HI where I would turn the wrong way every.single.time. We knew it when he was 2 1/2 and was adding up the beans on his plate and stacking the canned food in a certain order. Before he was 3, he had started memorizing books and in Sunbeams (a Sunday School class for 3 year olds) was able to memorize at least half of the Articles of Faith. We knew it in kindergarten when he started doing 6 square Sudoku and by first grade when his times on regular Sudoku were better than his Dad's. Several teachers told us right away that he was different and people commented all of the time on how bright he was. We knew he had a different perspective on the world and that numbers were almost magical to him.

   Today in school he competed for the first time in the Math Olympiads. In our district it's a program for 4-6th grade students to expand their problem solving skills through math. The questions are hard. Really hard. Some of them come directly off of the PSAT tests. The object isn't necessarily to get all of the problems correct, but to figure out how math could help you solve the problem at hand. It's encouraged to look at a problem differently than someone else and you get points for coming up with the right solution using different approaches. A big part of the competition comes after the test, when you get a chance to stand up and show everyone how you came to the answer you came to. It gives the kids a chance to use math vocabulary in a relate-able way, to teach others, to stand up for their own answers and be encouraged by maybe doing things a little differently. I have to say it's a pretty amazing program.

     His current teacher has told me she thinks he is gifted and that in 17 years of teaching she hasn't seen a kid who has a mind that works like that. She encouraged me to look for opportunities to further his obsession (um, talent.) I am not sure the local Rec Center has what we are looking for though. Does anyone have any ideas on how to go about finding the right thing for him? Are there community math groups and do they admit almost 10 year old boys? I am proud of my big kid, who can do hard things. I know there are harder things to come. I hope this little experience in Math club will help teach him some great problems solving skills. I hope it re-enforces his love for math and motivates him to work harder. I hope all of the work will eventually earn him great scholarships and open doors for him all through his life. Having a Mathelete is awesome.

Ah, Military Life

Some things in life are just hard. Unfortunately there is usually no way around them. Like the game says "can't go over it, can't go under it, can't go around it, guess we'll have to go through it..." One of the hardest things about being a Military Kid is that you move, sometimes a lot. When you move you have to make new friends, and the worst part, leave old friends behind. When we left WA, Bug left some great friends behind. One of them was able to come and visit this summer. They had such fun, it was like they were never apart. Bug still talks about when we get back (crossing fingers) so that he can play with his friend.

As a Mom, you want to shield your kids from heartache. Also as a Mom, you know they have to go through it to learn and grow. It's one of the hardest things about being a parent. I do know, as a grown-up having moved 9+ times, that you do make new friends and the very best part is that you get to keep the ones who move away. We now have friends in far corners of the world and I love that. In fact, we have neighbors here who we have known since Bug and his Friend were in pre-school together.  As a 9 year old boy, it's hard to see past next Tuesday.

In our new house here there are lots and lots of boys. In the park behind our house they are free to play ball, tag, football, spy kids or whatever they want. They all have a great time back there. A couple of months ago one of them moved away and everyone was sad. They all moped around for days. This week another family moved on to a new Military Adventure, leaving us another 2 boys short of a fun time. The 3 oldest boys were all in the same class at school and some of the same school activities. They loved hanging out. It's so hard to say goodbye. This morning Bug looked toward thier house and said, "School will not be the same today." No it won't, but new adventures are in store, and we wish them well. 

Our Fun Halloween

 Aren't they cute? Meg wanted to be a Rodeo Princess after I showed her a picture of my cute cousin Jaime as Princess of the Benton County Fair some number of years ago. She loved the hat but was even more excited about the boots. The child has a thing for pink boots. Can you blame her? I kind of love them too. I have had the suede pink outfit stashed for some time and the belt was Justin's when we was a little tyke. She comes from a great Rodeo family. The belt buckle was a gift from another Grandpa, which she also loved.

Bug wanted to be Monopoly Man. He's Monopoly obsessed. He mostly plays it on the Wii now because the games tend to be easier to save that way when they go on and on. In the game, the Monopoly guy gets a new jacket every time you win a game and he thought that was cool. He's also found a bug in the game so that he can make very advantageous trades. Not that he cheats, I am just impressed he figured it out.

Justin and I threw together our costumes at the last possible minute. The glue was still drying on the skirt ribbon when we got in the car. I love washable fabric glue. I didn't even have to ruin a skirt. Too bad we left the can of spinach on the counter at home. I also gained a whole new appreciation for my husband who has to wear those awful boon dockers every day to work. Those things are horribly uncomfortable.

Everyone had a good time at the Trunk or Treat with a chili cook off, carnival games, a cupcake walk and a bounce house. Quite the party and we all had a great evening.

No ideas for next year. Guess we will wait and see.

Sew busy

This week has been a long, long week. This poor kid has been sick, sick, sick.

He didn't move off of the couch except to bed from Sunday through Wednesday. He has bronchitis. Finally, today, he is feeling better. Except now he has a mysterious rash.

So, what did we do to keep busy while being house bound this week? Meg played and tried hard to antagonize her brother, which didn't work well. I sewed. In between bouts of coughing, orange juice fetching, temperature taking and everything else, I sewed. I had a couple of project I wanted to finish up.

First was this cute coat I did in a sew-a-long with Christine at From an Igloo. That was wonderful. It took me a while to finish because of the embroidery design. I knew what I wanted, it was just a matter of figuring it out. The pattern is from Dear My Kids. Her patterns are easy to ready and follow and run pretty true to size. Very fun project, finally finished. I picked up the fabric from Michael Levine's loft at the fabulous $2.00 per pound pricing. Also from Christine, I did these easy peasy no pattern knit pants that are under the skirt. I ended up cutting the skirt fabric wrong due to inattention (i.e. sick kids, phone calls and my sister having a baby) but the cut fabric turned out to be the perfect size for these cute leggings. I told Meg they could double as jammy pants. She's happy about that. And I learned a few things about sewing knits along the way.

House on Hill Road has has this Twirly Skirt Pattern up for some time. I have loved it for a while, but just now got around to making up a skirt from it. I love that people are so creative and so willing to share. I can duplicate almost anything, but coming up with it myself is just too much for me. I did make the extra ribbon embellishment to add to it, and I debated on it for a while. Too much? In the end, the wearer loved it, so I guess it was a good call. She just loves to twirl around in it.

Sew, what's next? I do have a brand new niece, Cambrie Linda. I am sure she is in need of something made with love from her Auntie. Then again, there's that mailing thing. I need an assistant, just for post office runs. We will see what happens over the next few days. Hopefully the Good Health Fairy will visit us tonight and everyone will be well and happy tomorrow. I surely hope so. Justin has a final to take.